


Safe Returns

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Protector of the Small - Tamora Pierce, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Yuletide, Yuletide 2010
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-24
Updated: 2010-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-14 02:13:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/144229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Raoul's wedding, Kel and the others return to New Hope</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe Returns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [torigates](https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/gifts).



Kel sighed with relief when she saw the guards waving from the top of the wall around New Hope. Merric and the others had convinced her that they would be safe on their own if she left, but she had still felt vaguely uneasy the entire time she had been at Sir Raoul's wedding. Neal had jokingly called it separation anxiety, but Kel knew it was more than that. She had left her people alone before, and she had returned to find them dead and captured, and their fort in ruins. Every time she left she felt a small knot form in her stomach, and a tiny voice in the back of her mind asking what she would find upon _this_ return.

But there had been a group of refugees and youngsters picking over the last gleanings in the fields as they passed, and a squad on the wall, and from all indications everything was as it should be. Kel felt the knot untying itself, and she thanked Shiko, the Yamani god of warriors, for sparing her people again.

As they rode through the gate, Kel was unsurprised to find Tobe's friends waiting. Tobe slipped off his mare, who he had dubbed Berry, and collected Hoshi's reigns. Neal handed over his reigns as well, and ruffled the boy's hair as he passed. The knights started towards headquarters to report in to Master Terrec, and put their things away, but they were interrupted.

"Sir Nealan!" One of the original Goatstrack residents ran up to them, his hair disheveled and straw sticking out of his clothes. "Thank the Goddess you're back! One of the horses is foaling for the first time and she's having trouble. Please come quick!"

Before they could respond, another refugee ran up, this one from the Scanran village. "My Lady Knight, there's a big argument about what the carpenters should build next and they won't listen to the council!"

Neal tossed a smirk in Kel's direction as he handed his things to Loey while she gave hers to Gydo. "Duty calls, Lady Knight," he teased.

Kel could not hold back the smile that spread across her face. "Yes. It's good to be home."

**Author's Note:**

> I made up the Yamani God, hope you like it!


End file.
